tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1734645058271734681.post1932050238997767750..comments2024-03-26T08:42:50.357-07:00Comments on One Baha'i's approach...: A Hidden Concern, Part 2Meadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02046847133963919765noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1734645058271734681.post-89624418863315763232015-08-15T23:52:58.674-07:002015-08-15T23:52:58.674-07:00Paul: The above explanations are sound and good. ...Paul: The above explanations are sound and good. May I add... If our heavenly home is reunion with God, whatever we do that takes away from that goal, is "accursed", is displeasing to God. Talking about the sins of others is one way, there are other ways, to bring about God's displeasure with our use of our free will.<br /><br />All of these can be temporary and are meant to be replaced with a more refined, purified, spiritual nature and heart.<br /><br />HW 1...possess a pure kindly and radiant heart.....The way pure gets more pure is by replacing God's disappointment with actions and words that are more centered on developing the spiritual nature of our soul and leaving the mistakes of others to their own process of refinement.Paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03497949815895698771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1734645058271734681.post-35231448139482933742013-07-16T08:08:10.722-07:002013-07-16T08:08:10.722-07:00This is a curse in the sense of something spoken, ...This is a curse in the sense of something spoken, not in the sense of the family curse that is passed down through generations (in fiction). Shoghi Effendi translates it elsewhere as God's malison, and as vilify, revile, execrate, but most often as curse and accursed. It is appropriate that it is a verbal act of God, for it is a verbal transgression to breathe the sins of others. Sen McGlinnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15937358435662369814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1734645058271734681.post-92228976634749535312011-05-18T20:35:13.582-07:002011-05-18T20:35:13.582-07:00Thank you very much for this wonderful post. My ow...Thank you very much for this wonderful post. My own thoughts are that I don't think accursed is meant to be taken literally. The original Arabic is mal`un which comes from the word la`na. In Arabic, this word is used to express extreme displeasure or dislike of something. I think the Guardian's explanation here is apropos:<br /><br /><br />"As regards backbiting, i.e. discussing the faults of others in their absence, the teachings are very emphatic. In a Tablet to an American friend the Master wrote: 'The worst human quality and the most great sin is backbiting, more especially when it emanates from the tongues of the believers of God. If some means were devised so that the doors of backbiting were shut eternally and each one of the believers unsealed his lips in praise of others, then the Teachings of His Holiness Bah?'u'll?h would spread, the hearts be illumined, the spirits glorified, and the human world would attain to everlasting felicity.' (Quoted in Star of West, Vol. IV. p. 192) Bah?'u'll?h says in Hidden Words; 'Breathe not the sins of others so long as thou art a sinner. Shouldst thou transgress this command ACCURSED ARE THOU.' The condemnation of backbiting could hardly be couched in stronger language than in these passages, and it is obviously one of the foremost obligations for Bah?'?s to set their faces against this practice. Even if what is said against another person be true, the mentioning of his faults to others still comes under the category of backbiting, and is forbidden."<br /><br />(From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to the National Spiritual Assembly of the British Isles, February 11, 1925)<br /><br />(Compilations, Lights of Guidance, p. 88)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com